17th Ohio House

Curtin will represent 17th Ohio House District

Democrat Mike Curtin has defeated Republican Nicholas A. Szabo in the race for the 17th District seat in the Ohio House of Representatives.

With 92 of 98 precincts reporting, unofficial results from the Franklin County Board of Elections showed Curtin with 18,736 votes, or 62 percent, to Szabo’s 1,396 votes, or 38 percent.

“Obviously, I’m very pleased with the results,” Curtin said.

“I want to compliment the other candidate, Nick Szabo. He and I ran a good, positive race,” he said. “We did some events together in the community and we avoided negative and ad hominem attacks against each other.

“It was nice to be in a race where the two candidates ran on the issues that were important to the neighborhood and the district,” he said.

Szabo is “a bright young guy with hopefully a future in public service,” Curtin said. “He’s a class act.”

The 17th District faces many challenges and has many needs, he said.

“I look forward to working with civic associations, neighborhood associations and nonprofit organizations,” Curtin said. “My job is to figure out how to help the people in this district.”

Despite the defeat of State Issue 2, Curtin said he plans to focus on working with others to try to improve the way redistricting is done in Ohio.

“I want to work across the aisle to discuss how we can simplify and streamline the tax code, which can be a barrier to economic development.” he said.

Curtin, 61, retired at the end of last year as associate publisher emeritus for the Dispatch Printing Company. He and his wife, Sharon, have lived in Marble Cliff for eight years. They have two children and two grandchildren.